Gallia

Gallia was a western region of the Roman Empire which existed from 52 BC to 486 AD, consisting of the formerly Celtic region of Gaul (now France and the Low Countries). The Roman Republic began to conquer Celtic Gaul in 121 BC, annexing the southern reaches of the area, and Julius Caesar defeated the Celtic tribes in his Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC; in 22 BC, Gallia was created, with Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Belgica, and Gallia Lugdunensis serving as its provinces. Raetia was incorporated in 15 BC, followed by Germania Superior in 83 AD. During late Antiquity, Gallic and Roman cultures merged into a hybrid Gallo-Roman culture, with the Gallic language becoming extinct and being replaced by the Gallo-Romance languages (French and Occitan). During the 4th and 5th centuries, Rome lost control of Gallia to the Germanic Franks, Visigoths, and Burgundians; Syagrius' Kingdom of Soissons was conquered by the Franks in 486 AD, ending Roman rule in Gaul.